Foot accelerator for motor cars



- 1,615,926 Feb. 1, 1927? s. AMoRoso FOOT ACCELERATOR FOR MOTOR CARSFiled June 11, 1926 Patented Feb. 1, 1927.

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FOOT ACCELERATOR FOE MOTOR CARS.

Application filed June 11, 1926. Serial No. 115,382.

This invention relates to foot actuated ac celerators for motor cars,and is particularly intended to provide a simple, economical andreliable device of this kind that is quickly and easily applicable tothat type of motor cars which are furnished only with a hand levercontrol for regulating the carburettor in order that the carburettor maybe controlled either by the hand or by the foot, without the one controlinterfering with the use of the other.

Generally speaking the invention comprises an attachment constructed andarranged to be easily applied to the usual connecting link extendingfrom the rockarm, adjacent to the steering post, to the carburettor, andhaving a flexible push or thrust member so connected with a footplungerthat when the thrust member or pusher is pushed down by the plunger itwill transmit the thrust of the pedal to the connecting link and shiftthe regulating arm of the carburettor to open position against theopposing pressure of a return spring.

This improved attachment makes use of all parts of the existing type ofmotor car, is adapted to permit quick removal of the floor-board anditself affords an operative connection between the manually actuatedrock-shaft and the link as well as a connection between thefoot-actuated thrust member and said connecting link.

Other features of the invention will be particularly described in thefollowing specification and will be defined in the claims heretoannexed.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated a simple, inexpensiveand convenient form of the attachment forming the subject matter of thepresent improvement, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view showing so much N of the gas-regulatingmechanism of a Ford car as is concerned with the present invention towhich my foot accelerator attach ment is applied.

Figure 2 is an enlarged detail view showing, in partial prospective, theapplication of this attachment to the rock-arm at the bottom of thegas-regulating rock shat't.

Figure 3 is a detail view, partly in crosssection, showing the slidablecarriage joining the foot-actuated thrust member with thecarburettoractuating link,

' Figure 4 is an end elevation showing the means for clamping the guard.or sheath, surrounding the thrust wire, to the support ing andconnecting arm on which the carriage is mounted.

Figure 5 is a plan view of the parts shown in Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a detail view showing the floor socket member which formsthe bearing support for the foot plunger or button.

Ordinarily, as is well known to those familiar with Ford cars, anobliquely inclined rock-shaft or rod 2 is mounted adjacent to thesteering post, shown in dotted lines in Figure 1, and is provided with amanual handle 2 at its upper end, and with a rockshaft 3 at its lowerend into which is hooked a connecting link 4, which extends across theengine between the front and rear blocks 7, and is hooked into an eye inthe carburettor-regulating arm 5, so that, according to the showing inFigure l, a clock-wise rotation of the rock-arm 3 results in acounter-clockwise rotation of the regulator arm 5 of the carburettor 6,thus opening the carburettor for the delivery of gas to the engine to agreateror less degree.

This construction is made use of in the application of my presentattachment in such manner as to make it possible to actuate theconnecting link 4 either through the rock-arm 3, or through a plunger orbutton 19 mounted in the floor-board 1, of the motor car.

Instead of leaving the connecting arm 4, with its hook end 4 hooked intothe aperture in the rock-arm 3, I remove this end of the link from therock-arm and hook it into a sliding carriage 10 which is slidablymounted on one arm 9 of a bent or double rod, whose other arm a; isprovided with a hook-end 8 to hook into the aperture in the rock-arm 3,into which the hook-end 4 of the connecting link is hooked when no footattachment is used. This bent arm 8, 9, therefore, is supported by therock-arm 3 and itself forms the support of a sliding carriage 10.

On the upper side, the sliding carriage is provided with a clampingplate 11, having 105 a concave clamping jaw 11 matching with a clampingjaw 10, formed on the carriage 10. The clamping plate is clamped firmlyto the carriage 10 by means of a clamping screw 12 so that the jaws 10and 11*, on 110 the one side, firmly grip the inserted portion of theconnecting link a. On the other side of the carriage the clamping plate11 clamps the end of a wire 20, which forms a flexible thrust member orpusher which, by pressure of the foot, exerts an endwise thrust againstthe sliding carriage by reason of its clamped engagement with thecarriage, just described, so as to force the carriage against thepressure of the extensible return spring 10 to slide toward the left ofthe driver, carrying with it, necessarily, the connecting link 4: whichis clamped to the carriage, and whose bent end or hook 4 rests in areceiving aperture formed in the carriage.

A slender wire, such as a piano wire or the like, particularly in acurved position, would easily buckle under the downward endwise thrustof the foot plunger 18. To avoid this, therefore, I provide a hollowcable or sheath 25 whose upper end is clamped securely to the lower endofa tubular socket member 16 attached to the floorboard 1 of the car,while the lower end of said sheath r guard is clamped firmly to thedouble end of the supporting rod 8, 9, by means of a pair of clampingplates 21, 22, and a clamping screw 23.

It will be understood that the thrust wire 2.0 is free to slide insidethis sheath and projects out of and beyond the lower end oi the sheathfor clamping attachment to the carriage 10, as already described.

The upper end of the thrust wire 20 is carried into the sleeve 16, andis there attached to a plunger 18, which is provided with a removablehead or button 19 for di tributing the pressure against the sole of thefoot, said head being provided with a threaded shank 19 toremovablysecure it to the end of the slidable plunger 18.

The socket or sleeve 16 is provided, intermediate of its ends, with, anoblique attaching flange 16 so that it may be secured to the floor-boardby means of a screw 16 which is accessible from the top of thefloorboard. This construction makes convenient provision for the quickremoval of the'floorboard and the quick Tie-assemblage of theactuatingplunger and its socket, since all that is needed, in order toremove the floorboard, is to unscrew the head or but-ton 19 from theplunger, thereby allowing the plunger to slip down out of the lower endof the sleeve as the floor-board isremoved. The plunger can be readilyre-inserted' when the floor-board is restored to normal position and thehead: or button 19 replaced on the upper end thereof. If desired theattaching screw 16 may be removed so to pull: the floor-board away fromthe sleeve. Ordinarily this will not be necessary.

The operation of the device will be readily understood; Hand control ofthe carburettor, through the rock-arm 3, and the link 4, is alwaysavailable by reason of the fact that the link 4 is connected to therockarm permanently by means of the arm 8 and the carriage 10, to whichthe link is clamped. On the other hand, Without removing the rock-arm atall, the downward pressure of the foot on the plunger 18 pushes the wiredownward and causes the carriage 10 to travel outwardly on the arm 9,against the yielding pressureof the return spring. The sheath 25, whilehaving suiiicient flexibility to follow the necessary curvature to makethe connection between the floor-board socket 16, and the attachingclamp 21, is sulliciently strong to prevent the buckling of the wire.The only support needed for the attachment is that provided by therock-arm 3,. at the bottom of the floor-board, and socket 16 at the top.sponsive to pressure on the-plunger and can bevery quickly applied toany car of this type.

What I claim is:

1.. In a motor car accelerator, the combination with the carburettorthrottle arm and its acuating link arranged to be actuated by a manuallycontrolledrock arm, of a springpressed movable carriage, to which saidlink is connected, carriage-supporting means connected with said rockarm for support, a toot-actuated plunger mounted in the footboard of thecar, and athrust transmitting wire connected at one end to said plungerand at the other end to said movable carriage whereby the depression ofthe plunger pushes the carriage and the link against the resistance oithe spring to throttle-opening position.

2. A foot actuated accelerator attachment for a motor car provided witha manually controlled rock arm and throttle-actuating link, embracing inits construction a supporting frame adapted to be connected with suchrock-arm, a movable carriage mounted on said frame, said carriagehaving: linksupporting and retaining means, a footactuated plunger, athrottle-transmitting wire whose ends are secured respectively to thecarriage and to the plunger, a spring normally acting to yieldinglyoppose movement of said carriage to throttle-opening position, and meansfor guiding said wire when the wire is pushed endwise'by the depressionof the plunger.

An accelerator attachment of the class described, in claim 1, embracinga supporting frame; comprising two arms, one of which is adapted to beconnected to a manually controlled rock-arm, a carriage slidably mountedon the other arm of the frame against spring resistance, means forclamping a throttle-actuating link, to said carriage, foot-actuatedmeans for pushing said carriage against the spring resistance to openThe mechanism is instantly rethe throttle, said means comprising a footplunger and a thrust wire forming operative connect-ion between saidplunger and the carriage, and an open ended enclosing sheath confiningsaid wire to prevent it from buckling.

4. An accelerator attachment of the class characterizing claim 1,embracing a frame having two divergent arms one of which is adapted tobe connected with the manually controlled rock-arm of the throttlemechanism, a slidable spring-pressed carriage on the other arm, meansfor securing the link of the throttle mechanism to said carriage, asleeve socket mounted in the foot-board of the car, a foot plungermounted therein, a hollow sheath secured at one end to said sleeve andat the other end to the carriagesupporting frame, a thrust wire passedthrough said sheath having one projecting end secured to the carriageand the other projecting end secured to the plunger.

5. In a device of the class described, the combination of a socketsleeve secured in the foot-board of a motor car, a plunger mountedtherein and provided with a quick detachable head to permit the removalof the foot-board without the plunger, a thrust wire secured to thelower end of said plunger and having operative connection with theactuating link of the throttle valve of a motor car to force said linkto valve-opening position While permitting said link to be independentlyactuated by a manually controlled arm, and means for preventing saidthrust wire "from buckling under the thrust of the plunger.

6. In a device of the class described, the combination of a plungeradapted to be mounted in the foot-board of a motor car, a thrust wiresecured to said plunger, means for operatively connecting said wire withthe throttle-actuating link of the car, and means also connecting saidlink with a manually controlled rock-arm whereby the link may beindependently actuated by the rockarm or by the thrust of the wire whenactuated by the plunger, and a sheath arranged to surround the wire toprevent it from buckling under endwise pressure of the plunger.

7. A foot accelerator attachment for a motor car, embracing a board bentto form two arms one of which is provided with a hook at its end, acarriage slidably mounted on the other arm to move against the pressureof a helical spring mounted on said arm, means for securing athrottle-actuating link to the carriage, a curved tube secured at oneend to said rod and having its other end. secured to a sleeve insertedin the footboard of the car, a foot plunger mounted inside said sleeve,and a thrust-transmitting wire slidably mounted in said tube and havingone end secured to the carriage to actuate it against the spring and itsother end attached to the plunger.

In witness whereof, I have subscribed the above specification. I

SILVIO AMOROSO.

